1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) adapted for use in a communication terminal. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to a DRAM having reduced current consumption adapted for use in a communication terminal.
This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2005-0062355 filed on Jul. 11, 2005, the subject matter of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to recent trends in highly integrated, large capacity semiconductor memory devices, a plurality of memory banks are commonly incorporated into a single memory chip. Recently, multimedia features such as online games, an MPEG audio layer-3 (MP3) function, video streaming, and a global positioning system (GPS) function have been added to newly developed communication terminals. These communication terminals typically include an integrated processor adapted to process communication data and multimedia data in conjunction with a DRAM. In this capacity, the DRAM is used to temporarily store the data passing to/from the integrated processor. In a DRAM including multiple memory banks, some memory banks may be used for communication functions and related data, and other memory banks may be used for multimedia functions and related data.
Conventional communication terminals generally spend only short periods of time executing multimedia functions. Thus, communication terminals use only relatively small amounts of power (e.g., draw small amounts of current) while executing multimedia functions and the memory banks associated with multimedia functions and related data spend a great deal of operational time in a standby mode in which current drain is limited to only several hundreds of micro-amperes (μA). However, even this limited amount of power consumption has fallen under scrutiny as contemporary communication terminals face greater demands for battery life and overall operating performance.